Americans are increasingly dying from poisonings and other accidents, as advances in modern medicine have decreased the number of deaths from disease.
Accidents Happen
Of those incidents, accidental poisonings have become alarmingly more common. The death rate from poisonings has gone up more than 110 percent among people between the ages of 20 and 64 in the past 15 years. Except for motor vehicle accidents, more have died from poisonings than any other type of accident in the past five years, and poisoning now kills more people between the ages of 35 and 60 than motor vehicle accidents. Falls, suffocation, and drowning are other common causes of accidental death.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rise in the poisoning death rate is strongly correlated to increased prescription drug sales, especially opioid analgesics—painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.
“The combined evidence seems to indicate that the increase in poisoning mortality is primarily among adults (ages 20 to 64) of both sexes, and is mainly attributable to abuse of opioid analgesics,” says the CDC report.
Forbes also ranked American cities based on per-capita rates of accidental death for 10 leading causes of unintentional death. Among the findings: Florida is the top state for accidental deaths, where West Palm Beach is the most popular location for death from falling, and Daytona Beach the top location for death from suffocation and drowning. Johnson City, Tenn., is the nation’s hotspot for death by motor vehicle, and Gary, Ind., had the highest rate of pedestrian deaths.
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